Since I oftentimes make reference to the word "Divergent" when I write things, I think I ought to explain what that means, in context. The term (in context), comes from the dystopian novel series by Veronica Roth. In her novels, we live in a future dystopian society where all people are segregated according to factions, that being, according to exactly how people are wired to function. That way, everyone can understand exactly how everyone else (and they themselves) ought to react to situations, ought to behave, ought to think and ought to choose, so on and so forth. It's actually very applicable to our world, today. In fact, I think that Veronica Roth's novels have captured exactly what it is like, in the world, today; the difference being that she has taken raw truth and made it into literal, simplified formulas, that really do spell out how it is for us all, in our societies, right now. We are already living in that dystopian society in our minds. Her novels (and the movies adapted from her novels), play out the physical, obvious aspect of how it already goes on, on the mental landscape of collective society.
There are five factions: Dauntless (The Brave), Amity (The Peaceful), Candor (The Honest), Abnegation (The Selfless), and Erudite (The Intellectual). All children go through a serum-induced psychological test, to determine how their brains respond to a variety of situations. Typically, they are induced into hallucinations and their reactions to situations are monitored on-screen. Depending on how they save themselves in certain situations, how they deal with what's presented to them— they are then placed into whichever faction they belong to. Now, Divergents are the ones who break all the known ways of handling the tests. Divergents are all five of the factions put together, and they are considered outcasts, they are considered as threats, and are hunted down for the kill. A Divergent knows when to be brave, when to be peaceful, when to be honest, when to be selfless, and when to exercise intelligence. Albeit, they may struggle with exactly when each quality is needed, but then that's all just a part of growing up and becoming! The bottom line is that, all of their faculties are fully-functioning and they are not circumnavigated by any single one of those faculties. They are not limited or bound by their selflessness because they also know when to fight back; they are not limited by their urges to fight because they also know how to be peaceful; they are not duped by their own honesty because they have the intellect enough to know when to hold their tongues, and so on and so forth. When put in a situation where the only obvious choices would be to either die or to fight back, a Divergent could easily take an alternative path, for example, jump into the canal and swim to safety, to avoid both death and fighting (fighting would result in major injuries). And that's just one small example of how a Divergent would deal with a scenario. In other words, a Divergent would be able to pull upon other faculties outside his/her own expected "faction" of behaviour, in order to apply the most applicable action, to garner the most beneficial and favourable outcome.
When I watched the movies, I knew I was Divergent! And I know that every single person who watched the movies and reads the novels thinks that about themselves, but I really do know what I'm saying. People want to belong and people need to belong. Some just don't belong because they can't belong, because their brains want to pull on many faculties, in order to choose the most favourable outcomes.
I wish there were more Divergents. Divergents could really push humankind forward! Imagine, we all want to have compassionate leaders; however, when push comes to shove, those very same leaders need to be able to make decisions to protect their own people, and not the rest of the world! So where are they supposed to draw the line of compassion? Because they need to draw it somewhere. On the other hand, we need leaders who know how to go to war; nonetheless, we can't have total war freaks who do nothing but spend all the nation's money on weapons and plots! We need Divergent leaders, leaders who can't be lumped into one faction and predicted according to the qualities of that faction! We need leaders who are capable of immediately pulling onto needed faculties that are applicable to given situations! But how is this ever going to happen, when the political parties, themselves, are factions in and of themselves! And I don't think I even have to explain that, do I? You have left and right and up and down and whatever! Those are all just factions. But how will that ever work? For example, you have a Presidential candidate on the right, who is 100% against abortion. I am against abortion in most cases; however, in the case that a nine year old girl is raped by her father or her brother or her cousin— or any man— and gets pregnant by that, I am in favour of abortion. It's a case-to-case basis! You need to know when to pull on a different inherent quality, to apply to a different outward situation! Meanwhile, we have Presidential candidates on the left who are always for abortion, no matter what, so as a result we have irresponsible grown ass women who get abortion after abortion after abortion, just because they don't feel like using condoms or taking birth control pills! And that's something that has to stop, because that is irresponsible and shameful! So as you can see, Divergents need to now arise to leader positions in the world, because without Divergents, the future of humanity is really going nowhere.
I hope you now will all have a firm grasp on what I am referring to when I use the term "Divergent." And better yet, I hope this article has got you thinking more about what it means for the future of our species. Thank you for reading, and have a joy-filled day! :)

I remember that day in Florence (Firenze), I was standing there on the sidewalk next to a gelateria, all alone. I was traveling all alone to begin with, and that day I wasn't spending with newfound Florentine friends, either. There was an old lady in a wheelchair out on the street, surrounded by about a dozen suitcases, out in the heat, all alone, and she started calling out to me! Immediately, I assessed the situation— she was old, in a wheelchair, and left with a dozen suitcases in the middle of the street, it was terribly hot— the whole scenario was very unlikely; and yet, there it was, before my eyes! And she was calling out to me! I walked out to her and she spoke to me in Italian, holding out some money in her hand, asking me to buy her some gelato from the gelateria at the corner where I was standing at before she called me out onto the street.
I know that I am a compassionate person. And I know that I am highly empathic and sensitive. But I am also analytical and I am not stupid and I am not easily played. Though I saw that the old lady was in a wheelchair and it was very hot and she needed some gelato, I could not bring myself to take the money from her hand and go and do as she was asking me to! The scenario was too unlikely. First of all, nobody in their right mind, in Italy, leaves their great grandmother stranded on a hot day, in the street, surrounded by a dozen suitcases! Secondly, why wasn't she asking that I buy her water? Why ask for gelato? In a scenario like that, you don't ask for ice cream, but you ask for water! It was very, very hot! I could put together the rest of the probable puzzle from there— she, having been able to gauge my levels of sympathy/compassion, would then make a bigger request— that I assist her in bringing her luggage somewhere (God knows where)! And then from there I could make out that she was probably not really alone, at all. I mean, why would she be alone? How did all that luggage get there, in the first place? Did she tag them along behind her in her wheelchair? Of course not! And, you know, Florence is full of Mafia, who knows if the whole thing was a set up and who knows what was in those many, many suitcases! I could have easily been framed for pushing drugs, locked up in Florence, and detained until a court hearing! A never-ending nightmare!
I could have helped the old lady and gained favour in the eyes of all the onlookers (there were plenty), risking my own safety and going against my better judgment; or, I could call the bunch of other travelers over there, who were traveling in a group, and ask if they could assist her, because a group of travelers would be a more unlikely target for any shadowy plans like the ones I had analysed to be possible. So, I did the latter. I walked up to the group of travelers a meter away, and I asked them if they would not help her. I explained what she wanted, and explained why I felt I shouldn't do it. They agreed that if they were in my position, they would have done the same as me, and then they proceeded to helping her. That way, if she was legitimately looking for help in the form of a simple cup of gelato, then she would get her needed help, and it didn't matter to me if I looked like a bad person or not. She would have gotten her help, that's what was important! And, if the actual scenario was as how I had analysed it to possibly be, then I had just saved myself from ruining my future!
The moral of this very true story, that occurred in Summer of 2010, is that empathy is compassion with intelligence, and that our compassion should never become a tool by which we may be used by others as a means to their own ends that may be harmful to us. We should not sacrifice our intelligence for appearances. If you indeed want to help, there is another way to help that might not make you look like a good person, but the outcome for the one in need would be exactly the same! And that's how true empathy is measured, I believe. If I had to do it all over again, I would do the same exact thing! And I teach my son the same, as well. I hope you've enjoyed my short lecture for today, may joy be with you! Run along now, run along! :)

Over at my FB Page, I had recent discussions about how I am considering to be a non-participant in the passions of the world events which cause so much mental and emotional burden. It's happened again and again— I am busy roaming around in my "pocket garden", tending to my roses and wading in my streams— when something happens in the world to shake my passions and I lunge outside of my own oasis to take up arms and war with external forces. It is the one thing that has power over me and after this recent lapse that I had over the Syrian refugee crisis, I have seriously considered to tackle this animal and to tame it.
In the teachings of Rosicrucian Mysticism, the only true religion that exists, is the Religion of Beauty. To make yourself and the things around you beautiful, to create and to plant and to flourish Beauty in your Soul and breathe it out into your surroundings— that is True Religion! Anything that will cause the decay of beauty inside yourself or outside in your surroundings, is the enemy of your Salvation, and should be simply avoided.
It's been written in various archaic accounts, that the Elementals once interacted with humans on a regular, almost daily basis, until the angst and cruelty of the human world caused them to recline back into their unseen world and to prefer staying there. In the Rosicrucian accounts, there are documented encounters between Bishops, Saints and Elementals such as Fawns and Satyrs. Of course, these accounts are vaulted up and locked away, only revealed through diligent exploration of old writings.
There is one dream in particular that I had, where I was walking through the war-torn world, when my attention was drawn to a forest filled with lavender fields, so I walked through the war-torn world and then took the turn into the fields of lavender within the thick forest. The place was filled with all manner of Elemental, there they danced and laughed and were completely free of the darkness that raged just outside, with the humans. I talked to them and asked them why they chose to stay far away, and they said, that they did not understand the hostility of the humans.
I feel that I was born a warrior, a vanguard of people. When there are catastrophic events in the world, or happenings that can shake the inner soul, instead of feeling powerless; I feel empowered! Instead of feeling helpless, I feel the most passionate and the most knowledgeable, at those same exact times. I don't feel like I must retreat; instead, I feel as though I should lunge forward! I grab my arms and I lose all fear! But then that is when I am pulled into the angst and into the coldness! I am pulled out of my "pocket garden" of roses and streams, and I feel like I could guard and lead a billion people! So for me to choose to stay in my garden, is a choice that comes with a great amount of true restraint. And I do it for myself. But then it is not only for myself, it is also for my followers who would rather enter into the garden instead of run out into a battle.
Perhaps there is a way to lead an army and to retreat into the fields of lavender, at the same time. Or maybe there is no way to do both, and it is all a choice between the two! Nevertheless, hopefully I will be able to restrain my passions, and practice my own Religion of Beauty.

Kierkegaard, the Danish writer and thinker of hundreds of years ago, is celebrated as the first true existentialist philosopher. And apparently, an avid diary-keeper who wrote his thoughts down so uninhibitedly and so unapologetically, that some of those same thoughts written in the eighteen hundreds, which I'm sharing with you here, are now very relevant, current, and applicable insights into our situations and our needs circa 2015!
In this particular bit of journaling, he expresses so prolifically a very common human trait, which is envy, and studies and expounds upon the results of envy, which are actions that are meant to demean, to lessen, to detract from, the object of envy. Of course, the worst thing to say to an envious person, is, "you are just envious", because then all hell will break loose, especially if you are dealing with a narcissist who actually wants to make it appear to others like you are the one who is envious or you are perhaps just flawed in character or in mind!
Kierkegaard goes on to discuss the symptoms associated with this condition, as well as the treatments of it (the treatments that he applied to those who felt insecure around him). His methods of treatment are different from my own, as I would simply ignore an envious person to death, even go so far as to acting like they are not even there! Of course, my "treatment" only exacerbates their condition. But K has listed down a treatment that is a bit more cunning in nature, which involves actually giving the envious person what they really want (or at least, they think it's what you are giving to them). Overall, this is a very valuable collection of thoughts, containing a wealth of insight that I believe everyone should read and really understand! His words here that stand out to me the most, are the following: “Showing that they don’t care about me, or caring that I should know they don’t care about me, still denotes dependence.” I think that we can all immediately identify what he means by this, as all of us have either been the victim of this type of treatment, or, you who are reading this right now may be a perpetrator of this type of treatment towards others! Actions like these are of course becoming more prevalent and more easy to carry out these days, thanks to social media platforms! Narcissistic tactics such as gaslighting, stonewalling, andbaiting and bashingare all too easy to carry out on others, thanks to how smaller the world has become as a result of "global shrinking" in the light of all our social media platforms and tools. When you feel like you are purposely being shunned or overlooked— the key word there is purposely! There is a real intent being given in order to shun you, to make you feel unwanted and left out, etc. Which of course just means that there is a great amount of purpose being placed upon your existence! Which I will leave to Kierkegaard now to explain. I hope you enjoy the read and find it helpful, thank you for being here today! :)

I am very excited to announce that there is a baby in Uganda who is going to be named after me, as "Joybell"! This is a herculean moment, I feel, one that I feel very proud of! I send my blessings to the baby and the baby's family! May she be protected and given good fortune! :)

Hello, wonderfuls! Today I want to share an excerpt with you, it's taken from The Asatru Edda: Sacred Lore of the North by the Norroena Society. I have the book and have read it from cover to cover, but this excerpt is from the free online version. The passages are short but there is a wealth of knowledge in here worth pondering and expounding upon. The whole Asatru Edda is like that, there are mounds of gold to be found in just a few paragraphs! The gold is hidden under layers of words that are not readily understood by people, but that's why I want to provide the meaning of this excerpt for all of you, today. Even this small morsel is enough to change a life and point it into the right direction!
When people associate Asatru with the "White Race" or the "Supreme Race", or really just the Northern European race, of course that is understandable, as this is, after all, the lore of the North; however, to say that the spirituality of the North belongs only to the North and is symbolic of that fact— is wrong and is a byproduct of a mind that does not understand its own spirituality. I don't think there is any other spirituality/religion on Earth, that best represents the mix of culture and of race, as Asatru does! In Asatru you will find Dark Elves who marry Light Elves (two distinct types of elves), Aesir marrying Vanir (two distinct types of gods), and even gods marrying giants (two totally different species). Just in this handful alone, we have black and white, North and South, bird and elephant! And what's more, is that, I don't think any other religion on Earth represents so beautifully the blended family, as Asatru does! Stepdaughters and stepsons are accepted into the houses of the gods, as if they are their own! Same with illegitimate offspring, and even offspring with different species (the giants). All sins are forgiven for the sake of the children, and great feuds are put to an end, for the sake of the sons/daughters. I have not read about so much forgiveness and openness, anywhere else, other than in the Asatru Edda! You have the acceptance of mixed races, mixed marriages, blended families, stepchildren, illegitimate children, so on and so forth. It is therefore an ignorance of this religion, to say that it is a form of spirituality only for one race of people! Anyone who says that is merely using the religion for their own propaganda.
Now that I'm done explaining all of that, it's time to begin the reading, and I'm sure that at the end of this, you will come to realize, that The Asatru Edda contains much beautiful, spiritual knowledge that is very much hidden, with meanings that cannot be understood easily by just anyone. But I am here to guide you. If you choose to read The Asatru Edda in full, and have no idea what you are reading, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me and I can explain to you what it means. Remember, esoterica is my own language! Now, without further ado:

1. "Faith is participation. It is choosing not to choose and turning to decide that all is undecided and awaits, eternal journey." = Faith is not a passive thing that one receives. At least, true faith is not. Faith is in fact an active participation, which is a paradox between making the choice not to choose, whilst making the decision that all is undecided and still awaits, during that eternal journey that you are on.

2. "It is influential: know that I can journey and all realms of experience are open to my tread. Share with another and they travel also." = Faith influences our journey and brings us into higher realms of experience, opening up the doors to us, doors that we would otherwise not have access to without belief. Faith therefore influences our experience on our eternal journey, with allowing us access to these realms. So it is not only a participation that receives action from us; but it is in fact also something that acts on its own, upon our lives, influencing our lives and our souls in the process. When we share our faith with another, they will also travel with us on our eternal journey, if they choose to (if they make the first participatory act to do just that).

3. "Believe that what I behold is 'just imagination' or 'just expectation' and I am moored tight to my own shore. Can or can't, real of imagined: either way, I am 'right'. The can and real are richer and connect me to a deeper journey." = Doubt is what will moore you tight to your own shore, doubt is what will maroon you to your own island, with no ship, no boat; it is what will not allow you to set sail onto that sea, onto that ocean! Referring to the things that you believe in (the objects of your faith), as merely imaginations and only expectations, is what will trap you, not allowing you onto your eternal journey. With belief, with faith, the questions of can or can't, real or imagined, are not relevant, because what is relevant becomes the fact that belief is what will bring you onto your eternal journey, therefore, that means you are "right" for believing, for having belief— in itself.

So now I will make an action of participation, in choosing to believe in "can" and "real" instead of "can't" and "imagined", because in my choice to believe in "can" and "real", I am connecting myself to a deeper journey, and to connect myself to a deeper journey, is to live knowing that I am "right". It is in fact that deeper journey experience that makes us "right"!

4. "Bliss is in the moments but the moments are far longer than what they seem. Each is endless if one but let it be so." = We find our happiness in moments, we find the meaning of life in moments containing bliss, but these are not to be seen as fleeting things; rather, these are to be seen as portions of eternity, it all lies in how we treat each moment and how we allow those moments to affect our lives, to stretch out into the rest of our lives, to linger on and to paint everything that we think and that we do and that we say.

You may be living in a difficult, discouraging situation in your life right now, but like everyone else, each of your days contains moments of eternal bliss. You may take these moments and build upon them, stretch them out over longer periods of time, enshrine them, glorify them, cause them to influence your life and your output into the world, in such a way that it will become your reality and your eternity; rather than the discouraging situation you would otherwise dwell in and see as you look around you.

5. "Once smithied, the sword is ever near my grasp. Will becomes reflexive once built. Thorr's forge smithies greater evolution." = The sword is both something that we will grasp and call ourselves "warrior" with, but it is also a symbol of forbearance, longsuffering, steadfastness, we are forged like the sword, for greater evolution! But we will also hold the sword in our hands one day, to show, that the furnace we went through, has produced a precious stone, a warrior, a diamond. Our scars shall not be hidden; but shall be worn proudly as battle scars, as our evidence of the forge, of the furnace that we overcame to get to the other side.

6. "It constructs a higher world by effort's hammer. Then Odinn, laughing, releases it all and I ascend the glass mountain to the Godin." = Through our faith, through our forbearance, we construct higher worlds for ourselves, we build our own Inner Countries (Inner Country is my own term, actually), and when it is time for the release (the end of the forge with the sword), it is time for laughter, it is time to walk on a glass mountain (beauty), it is time to ascend to the Gods (to ascend, to glory, to enlighten, to evolve, to laugh, to remain in bliss).

I've come across some really good stuff lately, I want to put them in a safe place where I won't lose them, so that they can continually be shared with all of you, and where else is a better place than here on my blog, right?
First, I would like to link you up to an article that I had the true pleasure of stumbling upon just yesterday. The article talks about "Orchid Children". Amongst esoteric circles, you would be able to see reference to this type of person under the filing of "Indigo Children" or "Crystal Children" or "Rainbow Children". I know that the three types I just mentioned are distinct in their own ways, but they are all highly-sensitive individuals, nonetheless, and that is what orchids are all about, they are about being highly sensitive. The term "Orchid Child", though, is coined by science and not by spiritualism. It is wonderful to read what science has to say about highly sensitive individuals, and I'm sure you will find this article to be just as informative as I think it is!
Next up is the greatest speech I have ever had the pleasure of listening to! I didn't even know who this speaker was, before stumbling upon this talk on Youtube! And now I have been blessed to listen to his talk (twice now, I've replayed it twice already), feeling like I have been given a bar of gold. This speech puts into words the observations that I have been longing to be able to put into words, and backs it with references to history and research. I appreciate this speech to no end and that's why I want to share it with you today! I hope that you enjoy reading the article about Orchid Children, and I hope that you enjoy watching the video that I have for you below. But more importantly, I hope that you absorb and that you learn, as I have. Thank you for being here!

I think that there are some people who read the wonderful words that many other people have written about me/for me, and those reading easily presume that since these words are "offered" to me all the time, then I must be "full of myself." But you see, this is the furthest thing from the truth. The truth is that, the many words that have been said to me, and about me, that are wonderful, are words that were there when I needed them the most. During times when I was at my lowest, these words came to me in messages, from people everywhere, one by one, as if they knew what I was going through (but they really didn't, there's no way they could know.). The words said about me, are divine interventions in my life, and they can truly be called divine interventions, because if not for them, I might have truly given up hope many times before, and I wouldn't even still be C. JoyBell C. right now.
I think that there are many things about other people, that are seen only on the surface, people fail to see the roots underneath the surface of the ground; they only see the flower! They don't know what the flower had to do to grow roots! And that is exactly what it is like, for me. People see me as the rose, they don't see the roots that I had to grow to become the rose. There is no way that I could possibly become "full of myself" no matter what wonderful things people have to say about me. They call me a goddess, an ethereal being, some think I am an actual vampire! Some have called me "the mother of the universe." These are all very lofty and very beautiful things; but one must remember, that the truly lofty things do not grow high into the sky unless the foundation has also run very deep. Like roots of a rose. Like roots of a tree. Any joys that I experience, have already been paralleled by pains that are unseen by unknowing eyes.

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"I am a flawed person. A brook with many stones, a clear blue sky with many blackbirds. I have many shortcomings. A rainbow that’s not long enough, a starry night with clouds. But I can only be thankful to the God who loves me just this way, and I can only be grateful to the people in my life who accept the clear blue sky with many blackbirds and who are patient with the rainbow that isn’t long enough. And because of this, I am taught love, because of this I love my God, and I love these people."— C. JoyBell C.

DISCLAIMER

This blog is not an online diary. Anything reflected through my writings here, do not necessarily mirror my present emotional, mental, or physical state, unless directly stated. Furthermore, any resemblances to you or to anyone you know, is purely coincidental and is not a result of me creating any "blind items" about you or your loved ones and friends. Moreover, your reading of my writings does not constitute a marriage, personal relationship, or personal friendship, between us.